


Worry

by GiulyKira



Category: Dune - All Media Types, Dune Series - Frank Herbert
Genre: Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, Motherhood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:21:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28489008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GiulyKira/pseuds/GiulyKira
Summary: Irulan and the twins may not be biological related but the worry they cause her sure look maternal
Relationships: Ghanima Atreides & Leto Atreides II, Irulan Corrino & Ghanima Atreides, Irulan Corrino & Leto Atreides II
Kudos: 6





	Worry

The Twins were very quiet babies, to a degree that, sometime, it made Irulan worry, Alia decided to give them a lot of servants, nurses and nannies so there were always strangers coming and going out of their rooms making noises but they were never scared or crying, they just keeping looking around completely silent, when Leto bit her with a look that betrayed a dislike much older than him Irulan just felt relief that he showed to her something other that that eery calmness.

***

When the twins were four, Irulan was still worried, they never really interacted with other people, they didn't even play with toys, they would just talk between themselves and when they talked with other children it usually ended in tears, the other children's tears, a visiting heir of another great house left sobbing when the twins started talking about his grandmother's violent death and asking questions about what happened later .  
So, yeah, Irulan was worried, she was also aware that trying to entice them to do something outside of their little bubble with toys suitable for their biological age would be useless so she came armed with something better than her last attempt, she tried making Ghanima a soft toy once, the aim was to make her a bear but Irulan could admit that sewing wasn't one of her strong point, she never had to do it, the toy was ugly and she wasn't surprised when she found it in her closet under a couple of robes.  
“Oh, Leto, where is your sister?”  
“She is getting something to eat, what are you hiding behind your back?”  
Irulan smiled and showed him “Cheops!”  
“I find it an interesting game, Atreides didn't like to play this game, they thought it was a snobby game”  
Irulan laughed, typical, she saw Ghanima and she gestured for her to join them.  
“Well, maybe, but I thought it would be stimulating for us all, i'm fairly bored”.  
Leto wanted to play against her, Irulan lost but it was indeed a fun, stimulating match, she noticed how Leto and Ghanima looked at each other.  
“What”  
“Nothing, Stepmother”  
“No, tell me, i'm curious”  
“It's going to hurt you, probably, Aunt Alia scolded us when we made that boy cry”  
“Tell me”  
“Our great-great-grandfather was telling us how she thought you would be too stupid to play well but you do play really well”  
“Oh, well, it doesn't really hurt me, don't worry”.  
None of the Atreides, Ghanima and Leto excluded, passed enough time with her to make an informed judgment on her and how can she feel hurt when both of the twins' face were alight with pleasure as they continued playing.

***

“Ghanima! Wait!” Irulan ran to keep up with Ghanima, she was worried about the blowup that just happened.  
“No! Go Away!”  
“Ghanima, I know that...”  
“I said no and if you continue with this I will really kill you”  
Irulan felt all the fight abandon her “Would you? Would you really?”  
Ghanima hugged herself “No, not really but you can't ask me to marry Farad'n Corrino!”  
“I know that idea of an arranged marriage seems...well, not what you wanted, but Ghanima, we have responsibilities to our family and to the empire, and arranged marriage could be actually happy, you know”  
Ghanima laughed bitterly “Please, how could you tell me something like that with the marriage you had? How could you even Call it a marriage at all, my mother is telling me how your relationship with my father wasn't even worth being called a relationship”  
“There are other things in life than a marriage, your father valued my opinion in the council and I had to means to pursue my passion in history”  
“You had no-one, stepmother!”  
“That's not true, I had you two” Irulan went to hug her Ghanima, for once, let her.  
“I know what I have to do but I don't want to”  
“You'll always have your brother and me”.

***

Irulan entered what once was Paul's study to find Leto staring into the void while mindlessly shuffling things on the desk around, Irulan worried, it wasn't like Leto to space out like that.  
“Leto?”  
“I have so much to do, Irulan, so many difficult things and I don't know if I have the courage for it”  
Irulan walked to the desk and took Leto's hand in hers, the texture of his skin was starting to change, it was becoming rougher and more wrinkled that human skin but she imposed to herself not to react to the alien grain that she felt touching him, she saw how other people reacted to his changed appearance, once a maid bumped into Leto and, sure, she was scared about having bumped into the emperor but she saw the instinctual flinch she did when her skin made contact with his, while Leto never showed if those reactions hurt him or not, he was always so guarded but she refused to hurt him inadvertently if he did felt hurt by it.  
“Leto, administering the empire is a daunting job but you are one of the most intelligent person I know, you are more intelligent that people double your age”.  
Leto swatted this words with a gesture of his hands and a laugh “I don't think you can call it intelligence but anyway, the thing that worry me is not the administration portion of all this”  
“Then, what is it?”  
Leto moved his hand out of under hers and stand up “No matter, I will do what I must for humanity but you are right, in the mean time the empire needs to be taken care of, let's go”  
“Sure” Irulan walked behind him, ready to go the council room when Leto talked again  
“You will be my senior council member, don't argue, I need help from someone who is loyal to me”  
“I won't argue, come on, it's bad form for the emperor to be late at his first council meeting”.

***

Ghanima's first delivery was long, the nurse that attended her said it was normal for a fist child, she was going to bow to her superior knowledge but she got worried the longer it go on and she couldn't do much if not to give her water, trying to reassure her and letting Ghanima crush her hand, she guiltily thought that maybe it wasn't so bat being childless, she didn't thought that giving birth would be that painful but little Trebor was one of the cutest thing she ever seen and he had a good set of lungs, too.  
“Irulan, could you bring me what's in that drawer, please?”  
Irulan went to bring it over and when she saw what it was she felt her eyes going misty  
“I can't believe you still have this teddy bear, it's so ugly, I did such a bad job”.  
Ghanima laughed lowly “What are you talking about? I loved Ewie, I always hid in my closet because I was afraid Leto would steal it away”  
Ghanima took the bear and put it in Trebor's crib “It's gonna help him sleep like it helped me”  
“Oh, good it has calming power on Atreides, then, you better sleep yourself, you are gonna need it with the lungs on this one, come on”.  
Ghanima yawned and laid down “Fine, thank you for being there for me, Irulan”.

***

Irulan moaned in pain, this damn cancer was painful but she didn't like how the numbing medicine made her feel not present in her body either so she usually bore it until she couldn't anymore, also, Ghanima's children evaded their minders or duties all the times to come to talk to her and show her stuff so she had ever more reason to be present in order not to worry them, there is nothing they could do, and to enjoy their company until she could.  
Leto and Ghanima chose that moment to walk in and sit on the bed with her.  
“Oh? Is it time?”  
“Yes” Just that, Leto was never one for niceties and white lies and she loved him for that.  
“Fine, my testament is in my desk, please, only publish the histories I finished and break the news to the children gently”  
She took their hands in hers and squeezed weakly “you don't have to say anything back or even feel anything for me, I know you aren't my children but I want you to know that I have always considered you my children too and that I'm proud of you, you all made difficult decisions that may have been unpopular but I trust and know you did what you did for the best, I love you”.

She settled down and closed her eyes while holding the twins' hands as strong as she could, as she fell asleep she was not worried anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sure there are mistakes i didn't catch but i was tired to look at this thing in my files, this fic could be called "in which i ignore everything because Irulan deserves someone who loves her and the twins are getting a good relationship with their maternal figure if they like it or not, voices in their heads be damned ".


End file.
